BTW, the Basketball program at I.U. is none of Knight's business.
Posted on 03/24/2005 7:28:05 AM PST by add925
Knight also doesn't think much of Mike Davis, his successor with the Hoosiers. Indiana missed the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year, and the Hoosiers lost in the first round of the NIT.
"They created that for themselves," Knight said in the Sporting News Radio interview. "The guy that's coaching there [Mike Davis] is a guy that I told Pat [Knight, his son and assistant coach] we were going to replace at the end of the season. There's no way that I would have kept the guy any longer than that. [But] That's their [Indiana] problem."
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.espn.go.com ...
Yeah those Hoosiers looked like a real powerhouse against Vandy.
Knight is right; Mike Davis sucks.
He may be right, but he's also a classless jerk.
Well, there's certainly no denying that by me. Actually, that's the only good thing about Mike Davis (his character).
Yeah, this classless guy is the same person that returned his ENTIRE salary last year due to poor performance. He also donated $40,000 to the Tech Library last week. Pretty low class.
The only good thing insofar as having him as a coach, that is (I'm sure he has many other good points).
Knight has his good qualities and many supporters. But whenever I see him speak, his single most salient emotion seems to be anger. This is a man who seems to seethe with anger, either overtly expressed or laying just beneath the surface, ready to boil up at the slightest provocation.
I just think he engages the world unfiltered... I would use "tactless" rather than "classless". He's blunt to a fault, but at least you always know what he thinks.
Committed to mentoring, Coach Knight's coaching techniques and teaching skills place him in great demand as a clinic speaker around the country. High school coaches flock to his clinics, and his summer camp for youngsters is always filled to capacity with a waiting list. Bob Knight has long been active in the National Association of Basketball Coaches, serving in various capacities. He served a term as a trustee of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and was named an honorary member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the national business honor society. He has also lent his name to help support charitable and youth organizations.
The works of Bob Knight stretch far beyond the realm of his numerous achievements and highly recognized status on the hardcourt. In August, 2003, he was honored as the first inductee in The Vince Lombardi Titletown Legends. The honor and responsibility pays tribute to those individuals who possess the characteristics instilled by Vince Lombardi in all his players; Dedication, Teamwork, Respect, Love, Family, and Discipline.
You'd be angry too if you got treated by the media the way he gets treated. I know of no other coach or sports figure who isn't even called by his proper name (Bob Knight) but "Bobby" instead.
I'm in the same town as he is. In person, he's hilarious, always a gentleman (albeit one who curses and swears--but who doesn't in this part of Texas)and full of humility.
There isn't a high-level coach who doesn't come in for his share of criticism. But none react in such a profane and ill-tempered manner as Knight.
There have simply been way too many incidents over the years for all of them to have been the other guy's fault.
Agreed! I'll take Bob Knight and "no class" anytime, anywhere, anyhow.
Yes, quite low class. Apparently fairly geneorous, to his credit, but still low class.
Ever seen Coach Chaney from Temple?
"But none react in such a profane and ill-tempered manner as Knight"
B.S.
Plenty of coaches react the same or worse. Ever watched Bob Huggins at Cincy? I once saw Kelvin Sampson (OU) literally slap a player during a game. Nary a peep from anyone. But just mention the name Bob Knight and everyone comes out with the horror stories
Knight has his faults but the media magnifies them way out of proportion while minimizing similar behaviour from others.
BD: You've been on record as a huge Hoosier supporter and a Bob Knight fan. What has he taught you since you played for him, in conversation or just by following the Hoosiers? [This interview took place days before Knight was fired by Indiana.--Ed.]
Thomas: Coach Knight knows how to win. He's done it for a long, long time. He is always in pursuit of winning.
BD: What if your son Joshua ended up playing for Bob Knight? How would you react to seeing film of the coach grabbing at or choking your son?
Thomas: First of all, you have to realize that the coach Knight I know and the one everyone else sees is very different. On television, you can make anybody look the way you want him to. But we played for him, we know him as a man, and we know all the good he does that gets lost. If my son ever got to play for Bob Knight, that would mean he's a good basketball player, good enough to play for Indiana University. And the way coach Knight conducts himself on and off the court is nothing to be ashamed of.
BD: Have you ever just wanted to tell coach Knight to calm down a little so all his former players, like yourself, can stop answering questions about him?
Thomas: No, because I love coach Knight and his approach to the game of basketball. I've seen all the good things that he does that you in the media ignore. When you put all the pluses and minuses of coach Knight on the board, you see how drastically misrepresented the minuses are, and how many pluses there are.
Y'all might have a point...slim one, but a point none-the-less. However, if the post of IU head basketball coach were a voted position and he campaigned for it, he'd win at least 80% to 20%....maybe more. High school/college basketball is to Indiana what football is to Texas...near sacrosanct status.
Digger, Tubby and Coach K must be positively seething by now then.
BTW, Knight supporters are usually willing to "overlook" his arrogant, profane and sometimes violent behavior as long as he has a winning record.
Notice the parallels to the MLB steroid story? (play ball, ignore the personal details)
Despite averything, John Wooden & the Duke Coach is the model. These guys pale in comparison.
He has made one big mistake, and that is remonstrating while saying what he thinks so others can see and hear it. Many have been out to assassinate his character, deserved or not.
Sounds like you're piling on, too. Knight is just a public figure whose sphincter is examined at every opportunity. No better and no worse than the rest of them, IMO.
Maybe you could explain to me what you mean by a "classless jerk." Who is a jerk with class? What kind of "class" should coaches have? Are you a coach? Are you an Indiana alumni?
BTW, the Basketball program at I.U. is none of Knight's business.
Why, of course not...that would entail one of the media's "selective" camera shots being of someone in a bad mood other than Coach Knight.
I would play for him any time anyplace. Loved it when he threw the chair across the floor at the Olympic games.
I thought Clayton Williams said that....cost him the Tx Governorship.
You've obviously never sat near Coach K at a Duke game. He is as profane as any coach I've ever witnessed. My guess is it comes from coaching at West Point since he and Bob Knight have that in common.
He frigging built the basketball program at I.U. It most certainly is his business.
The "Chair toss" was in 1985 Indiana vs. Purdue. I'm a Purdue Grad and went to school while Knight was Indiana's Coach. He has great knowledge of the game. Outside of that he's seems like a real JERK!
You nailed it.
Some FReepers really out to have "I believe the media!" as their tagline.
I'm sure you know that Knight and Coach Keady are good friends.
I beg to differ, he has made MANY big mistakes.
This coming from a 40-year Indiana resident with 2 I.U. alumni kids, National Coaching License in Soccer and years of living with Knight's cult-like status....
Hoosier mantras were the same as yours, "its because of a microscopic view by the press"....B.S. Its because of decades of outrageous behavior masked by winning records.
Even the local conservative press had it with him in the later years.
He built it? They've played b-ball for longer that he was there....the Indiana basketball (high school & college) tradition happened way before Knight...Larry Bird wouldn't play for the guy...John Wooden grew up & started coaching 15 miles north of there when Knight was in diapers....come to think of it, he still is.
I do not recall Knight ever threatening to kill an opposing coach in a press conference nor has he ever sent a player on the court to purposely injure an opponent, so your comparison to Chaney fails.
If you think Wooden set an example then you need to Google "Sam Gilbert UCLA"
As a matter of fact, only someone with a real axe to grind would disagree. What's yours?
That was a Purdue game in Bloomington. The Olympic game must be your reference to the assault he had at the Pan American games.....just about forgot about that one, thanks.
Thank you, I stand corrected.
ROTFLMAO!!!! Wooo hoooooo! Now THAT is funny!
I used to stick up for Bobby Knight. But he had chance after chance after chance, and he finally got canned. And rather than show remorse, he's been his normal, classless self.
LOL, yep. And He knows it too. That's why he once said that when he leaves this plane of existence, that he wanted to be burried face down 'so all his critics can kiss his .....'
Classic Knight.
And since you also say Coach K from Duke is an example, then take the time to find out what he says really happened at the Pan-Am games - he was standing 4 feet away and his account is MUCH different than the media's.
Who do you believe?
You must not know him that well. I haven't been all that impressed with his character.
By the way, Coach K learned the craft from Coach Knight at Army.
thanks for popping that up...
Your mind is closed. Enlighten yourself. Not 99% of Hoosiers agree with you, that is bogus.
My axe? Don't like him dissing Mike Davis when he is down. Probably trying to rub in the fact he's in the sweet 16 and I.U. is not. Doesn't bother you, huh?
Sounds like you like Knight better than I.U.
Knight's Chair Toss Still Leaves a Mark (20 year anniversary)
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